1. Technical Field
Embodiments of the invention relate to saving power in a computing system, and more specifically to adjusting a duty cycle of a network interface card to save power in a computing system.
2. Background
The use of mobile or wireless devices has been increasing. However, using mobile devices to receive streaming data or large file transfers over a network consumes significant amounts of power. To save power, the network interface card (NIC) may be put into a low power state, such as a sleep mode, until it receives a request to wake up to receive or transmit data. For example, the NIC may wake up when it receives a request from an access point to receive data. The NIC may then receive data that has been buffered by the access point for the wireless device. One problem with this technique is that some applications, such as streaming applications, require time critical data. If the streaming application runs out of data, the stream is interrupted, and the user will not have a good experience. However, if the user can only use the device for a short period of time while receiving streaming data, then use of the device is also not desired.